Edgy is a badge of honor to most 30 somethings and below. I have always prided myself with the belief that I did edgy pretty well. My friends and I were too young in the 1960’s and 70’s to be “real” hippies, but we embodied the definition of flower children – literally picking and handing out flowers to total strangers who appeared to be having a bad day. This was always done while wearing our hand embroidered jeans (picture billowy clouds and rainbows and big sun, well, you have the visual) and those great smelling leather straps that we bought to tie around our foreheads. This was the “Age of Aquarius” and even if I was a Pisces, I owned the look. Hey, I can still hear my “glass half full” father telling my mother that it could always be worse. “Audrey, at least Lisa isn’t at the airport, with a shaved head and an orange robe, chanting the Hare Krishna mantra”, or something to that effect. (In case you are new to my column, my Daddy almost always had my back.) I feel that I also need to credit my parents for being very hip, edgy 40 something parents. I have great memories of the three of us, driving the long trip from Newport to my sister and her family near Philadelphia singing along to every word on the 8-track of the musical Hair. Many years later I remember how amazed my three children were when their father and I broke out to Freddie Mercury and Queen singing Bohemian Rhapsody, head banging moves and all. I am here to tell you that we sounded – magnifico-o-o-o-o.
This edgy thing is something I have always admired. I loved the movie The Breakfast Club, because just like Ally Sheedy’s character, I emoted a bit of a dark persona in my early time in high school. I was “Goth”, donning dark clothing and a sullen disposition, long before there was a term for it. This trend of pushing the norm became a consistent pattern in my life. Joining the Navy, being a single mother – I could go on, but there is not enough ink. Suffice it to say, that in retrospect, I was not one to take the easy path, and even now I am more of a loner than most, quite comfortable eating out at a restaurant or going to see a movie alone.
Now that I am on the dark side of sixty, I believe that the badge of this individuality I felt in my younger years is less visible to the outside world. That is why I was so surprised when a total stranger came up to me as I was waiting recently in the movie theater line. She pointed at my new ear piercing and, with a slightly surprised expression, said one word. Edgy. I must admit, I was kind of thrilled with her take on it. The sad fact is that I recently had this done because many migraine sufferers have found relief when this pressure point is pierced. Is it bad that I didn’t explain this to the hipster girl, but instead, reveled in the glow of edginess?
